Visual arts guided retreat with Luz Bratcher
A visual arts guided retreat
This is an open-ended space for folks who want to prioritize time to work on their own art projects at the Glen. Whether you have a specific artistic goal, are feeling stuck in your current creative process, or simply just need time to gather and explore ideas, you will have access to creative companionship and as much or little structure as you need to support your maker time.
We will be meeting in an art classroom that can accommodate all 2D mediums and small 3D projects.
Each Day
These touchpoints are optional, but will be available throughout the week:
- A short morning warm-up which may include gentle somatic movement, lectio divina, visio divina, or writing to get your creative juices flowing.
- Individual art direction or instruction from Luz (who is well-versed in drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, textile and fabric arts, and more)
- Group discussion and coworking
Occasional field trips to an art museum, artist studios (including Luz’s), and nature walks near campus.
Preparation
No advance work will be required. However, one month before the retreat you will be invited to sign up for a 15-minute phone call with Luz to discuss your goals for the week and how she might support you in meeting them. If you have medium-specific needs, interests in exploring/learning a specific technique or medium, reading/research recommendations, or would like help developing specific art exercises to aid in your growth, please let Luz know!
Two books are suggested for preparing for self-directed work, but not required:
Art is a Way of Knowing by Pat B. Allen: a good introduction to thinking about specific art mediums for personal exploration
How to be an Explorer of the World by Keri Smith: a straight-up fun book designed to help you develop awareness of the spaces you inhabit. This is great for cross-pollinating your curiosity.
Supplies
Sketchbook/journal and favorite art tools. We will have opportunity to shop, both at art supply stores and at Luz’s studio. Seattle has an excellent creative reuse stores as well.
Experience Level
This retreat is for artists of all levels.
About the Instructor
Luz Bratcher is the owner of Golden Repair, a grief art companionship program, as well as Studio Mercia, a multi-disciplinary community art studio, where she practices and teaches. As an artist and educator, Luz’s work explores healing through the connection of placemaking and grief. Her eclectic approach is not just about artistry but deeply entwined with her personal journey of healing from abuse, and the loss of a child. Through art, she has found a pathway to mend her own soul by discovering beauty in the most desolate places. Her creations and teachings are driven by the belief that art can help us understand our connections to our surroundings and each other, especially in times of loss.
Her practice includes embroidery, acrylics, encaustic, printmaking and watercolors, with a special emphasis on creating watercolor paints from naturally foraged pigments. She integrates found materials—repurposed or directly gifted by nature—into her work, highlighting the cycle of repair and renewal that mirrors a thematic focus on restoration and resilience.
Her aim is to offer others a new language for grief and recovery, encouraging a deeper connection to their environment and personal narratives. In sharing her art, Luz hopes to provide a source of solace and understanding for those navigating their own journeys through darkness, guiding them towards a place of restoration and beauty.
When Luz isn’t making and teaching art, she’s spending time writing postcards at coffee shops and breweries with her composer husband, Cole. Their collective idea of the good life is being able to travel the world buying records and fancy pens, but are also content at home with their three cats.
